Thin
by BrightBlueSkies
Summary: Johnny Bravo wasn't always the hunk he is today. He used to be quite the opposite.


Bunny Bravo was worried about her son. Well, she always worried about her son, but this time especially.

She watched him carefully at the kitchen table. He sat still, slightly hunched over in his seat. He didn't say anything, he just stared blankly at his food that was stacked high on the plate in front of him. She had made his favorite for breakfast, bacon and ham. That usually had him scarfing down food and licking the plate in seconds.

But he hadn't touched it. Hadn't even picked up the fork to push it around the plate as he had done the day before, and Bunny was panicking. She just didn't know what to do!

Other than schedule a doctor's appointment, she knew she had to do that. But that was still hours away, and her baby boy just seemed so...

Thin.

Johnny had always been scrawny. Thin and tall, like his father, she thought. She scowled. The one thing that man had given to Johnny and it was his thinness. She shook the thought from her mind. Johnny, on a good day, weighed about 95 pounds. He weighed less than most girls, and way less than any boy at school. He was meek, and small, and couldn't get through a conversation with a stranger without stuttering. He had never been the picture of masculinity.

But even so, Johnny seemed thinner even compared to that. When he had been scrawny before, he was nearly boney now. Bunny had walked in on him changing a few days prior (which she was yelled at for) and she could see his ribs. It horrified her. No child of hers was going to be a skeleton!

Except everything she put in front of him only seemed to push him further down this hole he had climbed into.

The kitchen was awkwardly quiet, that day. Bunny was at the stove, cooking, praying that the smells could entice him to eat, and Johnny, uncharacteristically despondent. They had a... confrontation, they day before.

"Johnny...?" Bunny tried, and received a grunt from the teenager.

"Are you going to touch your food? It's getting cold." She turned around and dumped another helping of bacon onto his plate. 'Getting cold' was a lie, she was piling his plate so high it would take hours to get cold.

"Mhhmm." Was the only response she got. She sighed.

"Well, you'd better get out of pajamas and into some better clothes, the doctor's appointment is in two hours." She said, and Johnny was immediately out of his chair and out the kitchen. She hung her head.

She shouldn't have pushed him so hard the day before. She had been so worried, and she had cornered him and outright demanded answers. That only made Johnny sink in on himself. She somewhat wished that Johnny had shouted back, but Johnny wasn't a confrontational boy.

She hoped she didn't scar him for life,

"Oh! I'm a terrible mother!" She broke into tears.

* * *

Johnny was heading to his room when he heard his mother crying again. She did that a lot, so Johnny wasn't worried. She broke down crying once in the grocery store when she saw a cute baby on a bottle of baby soap. His mother was Way too overemotional.

She had been acting Really weird the day before, and had interrogated him on what he had eaten in the past week. He was very confused, and tried to tell her he just hadn't been hungry, but she just kept pressing. He was at a loss for words. What did she want him to say?

He entered his room and took off his baggy sleep shirt. Strange, it hadn't been so loose before, had it gotten stretched..."

Nope, it was him.

Johnny was again reminded of the fact he hadn't eaten anything in six days. He was somehow even skinnier that he usually was, which Johnny didn't really believe was possible until now. He didn't look like one of those posters for child health, not yet at least, but there was a definite change.

Baggy clothes would either help hide his figure or make him seem even thinner, so at this point he just threw things on at random.

Doctor's appointment. He frowned. His mamma must be really freaked out. He didn't think it was that big a deal. He just hadn't been hungry. His hunger would come back, eventually. Probably. He was still drinking water, though, so that was good.

He was missing school today. Which was interesting. With his grades, mamma would never let him play hooky unless he had a really good reason. He didn't really like school anymore. That was a lie. He had Never liked school.

He was always pushed around at school. Which wasn't hard, considering he was light as a feather. He didn't have a lot of friends, either, which didn't help him at all. He felt lonely at school, despite being surrounded by people. Which he thought was really weird, and he was embarrassed to bring it up to anybody. So he kept to himself, mostly.

Last week had been particularly bad. He tried, he tried so hard, to stay out of people's way. But he had been going through his locker and this guy named Trent had walked into him. Apparently Johnny just being in his way was enough to make Johnny a target.

The next few days were literally nothing but Trent picking him up and throwing him into the trash. Or stuffing him into lockers, (which he actually fit into with room to spare). Or giving him swirlies- it was just an overall bad time. Johnny hated it. He just wanted to have friends, and if he couldn't have that, then he wanted to be left alone.

And ever since then he just hasn't been hungry. He doesn't know why. He just wasn't in the mood to eat. Maybe he was sick. He Was going to the doctor, the doctor would know if he was sick. Then he'd get some meds and mamma would stop worrying so much.

* * *

The doctor didn't know what was wrong with him. Bunny was furious, she paid good money for this appointment and the doctor told her nothing! Nothing she didn't already know, at least. Yes, he'd lost weight (10 pounds!), no, he hadn't eaten anything strange, yes, he'd had his shots, yes, of Course She Was Feeding Him.

She silently fumed in the front seat as she drove home. Johnny just stared out the window, watching the scenery go by. Now, mamma Bravo was no scientist, but she had known from the start that something was wrong. If her son wasn't physically sick, then there was something else going on. A mental problem was much more difficult to solve than a physical one.

She slowly let her breath out of her nose. She needed to be calm. No need to repeat the previous night.

"Johnny?" She said, getting his attention. He looked over at her through his sunglasses.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Is there... Is there something bothering you, sweetie?" She asked, and noticed Johnny rub his arm.

"Not... really..." He said. He was totally lying. Johnny was a terrible liar.

"Okay... and if this, let's see, 'non-existent' problem Were to be real, what would it be?" She said slowly. Johnny was fidgeting in his seat now. He shrugged.

"I dunno..."

"Is it- Would it be my cooking...?" She tried.

"Wha- no!" Johnny said.

"Something keeping you up at night?"

"No, mamma!" Johnny sounded exasperated now. The way teenagers do.

"Is it a girl?" She pressed, and Johnny threw his hands into the air. They tapped the roof of the car.

"Mamma!"

"Okay, okay! This is only Hypothetical, Johnny, no need to get your buttons in a twist." She said, sating him for now. She had gotten close, though. She could feel it. It usually was a girl, so it was mildly surprising to her that it wasn't this time. What could've gotten her son in such a state? What did he normally do?

He went to school, mostly.

It occurred to Bunny that her son didn't have a lot of hobbies, and that should've concerned her more than it did. But that's besides the point, if something were to happen to Johnny, it would have either been at home or at school. And she knew darn well that nothing would ever harm Her baby in her own home.

"Was it something at school?" She asked at last. Johnny seemed to freeze, and his breathing became a little shallower. Bingo.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She said softly. They were pulling into their driveway now, and the sun was setting. It would be Saturday tomorrow, and Johnny would get a break from whatever was bothering him at school.

Johnny shook his head 'no' and then promptly went inside. Presumably into his room. That was okay. She knew what the problem was now, and she'd do what she had to in order to fix it.

Maybe Johnny needed a break from school.

* * *

He had been given, from his mom, a week off of school. The only condition was that he needed to eat more. Johnny was baffled. A week of high school was a lot to miss. And all because he'd lost some weight. He knew other kids who'd be jumping at the bit to have an opportunity like this, other kids who'd exploit the hell out of it.

Johnny didn't think he could do that to his mamma. He'd been given a big breakfast the next morning, like he had the past few days, and he really tried to eat it. He managed to swallow a few bites, and they felt like lead going down his throat. He did manage to down his entire glass of juice, so he had that going for him.

His mother kept looking at him expectantly throughout the day, and it was driving him nuts. He needed to get out of the house. He told his mom as much, and he thinks he only made her worrying worse. She'd let him go, and without any food surprisingly, but on the condition that he go buy himself something to eat. And he had to eat all of it, she said. Or she'd Know.

Mamma always knew. She was just scary like that. But she was his mamma, and she was a good mamma at that, so Johnny didn't mind her omnipresence that much.

He was walking down the street, with nothing much to do. He was going to miss a lot of school. A blessing and a curse, no school meant twice the work when he got back. His teachers were going to harp on him so much when he got back... At least he'd get away from that Trent guy for a while. Oh no, he tempted fate.

"Oh-ho! well well? What've we got here, boys?"

Johnny wanted to scream.

Trent and his two buddies, whom Johnny didn't actually know the names of, Had decided that today West Avenue was going to be Their Spot. At least Trent wasn't too physical, not compared to the other bullies he'd seen at school. That one burly kid, Larry, Johnny thinks, used that one nerd Carl as his personal punching bag. Johnny didn't feel too bad for Carl, though. Carl used to be a Jerk.

"It's a wet pencil!" Trent said, and Johnny was just confused. His buddies laughed, though.

"Man, that's so funny!"

"Dude, sick burn."

"I don't get it." Johnny said, which he regretted. Trent laughed even harder at his own joke.

"Of course you don't, stupid head." Trent said, "I thought of it when I was chewing on my pencil yesterday. Get it? Wet? Pencil?" He proceeded to cackle. Johnny stood there quietly, hoping they would leave. No such luck.

He was lifted up by the neck of his shirt.

"Y'know what we do with wet pencils, you wet pencil?" Trent asked, and Johnny gulped. He shook his head no.

"We snap 'em in half."

So much for non-violence.

Trent pulled his fist back and Johnny braced for the inevitable blow, when a loud voice interrupted them.

"Just what are you three doing back on my lot!?" A rather angry looking man wearing an apron said. Johnny looked over and saw they were in front of a diner. "I thought I told you to scram the last time!"

Trent seemed flustered. He dropped Johnny, and he was so surprised that he forgot to use his legs.

"Hey look old man, we weren't near you building or Nothing!" He said, and the other two boys cowered behind their leader.

"But you're 'causing ruckus outside my establishment! Scaring away paying costumers! Now SCRAM!" The man said, and that seemed to terrify Trent and his friends and they were gone in a blink of an eye.

Johnny watched them go from where he sat on the cement.

"You gonna lie there all day or are you going to get up?" The man said, and Johnny was brought back into reality.

"Oh, uh, thanks?" Johnny said, getting to his feet, "Why'd you-"

"Think nothing of it, sport. Those kids wrecked my diner last time they were here, now I've got them banned for life!" He laughed. Taking Johnny's hand and shaking in vigorously, he said;

"The name's Pops! But you can call me Pops. I own that there diner over there." Pops jabbed a thumb over at the restaurant.

"Oh." Johnny said intelligently.

"Wow kid, you're as light as a feather! C'mon inside, first meal's on me. You could use some meat on those twigs you call arms." The older man said, and Johnny was dragged inside. The inside of the diner was spacious, which might've been because there was no patrons. There were few flies here and there, and there was an indeterminable odor that clung to the air. Johnny was plopped down on one of the bar stool and was handed a menu.

"Pick anything you like! Guaranteed it won't kill you in one bite!" Pops said, and Johnny hesitantly chose the chili. Pops swung around to a deep pot on the stove behind him, supposedly to tend to whatever was inside it, but that didn't stop him from chatting up a storm.

"So, what's your name, kid?" He asked.

"Johnny." Johnny said.

"Not much of a talker, are you, Johnny?"

Well, that's new. Johnny was told that he talked too much, actually. In class, when in public, to himself. He guessed he just hadn't been feeling up to it.

"Not... recently, I guess." He said. He fiddled with the menu.

"Oh? And why's that?" Pops asked, and he grabbed a salt shaker that was definitely not filled with salt and dumped the whole thing into the pot.

"I dunno." Johnny said, slouching a bit. He didn't.

"Was it 'cause of those three brats that were bothering you?" The other man asked, sparing a glance back at Johnny. He stuffed three chicken feet into the pot.

"...Maybe." He said quietly.

Pops swung around, pot in hand. He placed a bowl in front of Johnny, and procuring a ladle from underneath the counter, scooped up what looked like perfectly normal chili and poured some into Johnny's bowl.

"You can't let meatheads like them get to you, Johnny!" Pops said, and then handed Johnny spoon. Johnny looked at the chili skeptically. It smelled pretty good...

"Why...?" He asked, and scooped some of the chili into the spoon.

"Why!? 'Cause they're meatheads, Johnny! They only feel good about themselves when they push other people down. It's 'cause they've got nothing of their own to make themselves better. So they make themselves feel big by being 'round those who are small." Pops said, and Johnny listened. "But I can tell with you, Johnny, that you're twice the guy any of them will ever be."

Johnny nodded, understanding. He felt better. Lighter. An invisible weight on his chest had lifted, and he heard his stomach growl.

"Better eat that before it gets cold, kid." Pops said.

Johnny took a bite of chili, and it was good. He ate the entire bowl, and bought some more to take home.

With that, Johnny went home.

* * *

Bunny had rejoiced, her son was eating again! She didn't know what caused it, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. And later in the year, when Johnny would meet a girl named Sandy that he'd do anything for, She wouldn't really need to worry about her son being too thin ever again. Heck, he might even be too Big.

And when Johnny went back to school the last few weeks of school with muscles bigger than his head, Trent and his goons parted from his path like the red sea. Johnny went from skinny loser to buff, somewhat-scary loser. Though, Johnny would never bully anybody. He didn't really understand it, and it made him feel bad when he hurt someone.

And with his new muscles came new ego, and Johnny became rather obnoxious outside of high school. Carl, Johnny's bully back in middle school, was pulled to Johnny like a magnet. Carl sought protection from Larry by hiding behind Johnny's new muscles, which worked.

Carl then declared the two of them best friends, even though Johnny didn't really agree to that at all. Johnny really liked Pop's food, and ended up being a regular (if that wasn't obvious). And life moved on.


End file.
